Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2003 - 66

This book is based on Catron's personal experience as well as notes
collected from friends and colleagues. He has collected, tested and categorized over 750 Web sites, directed towards all aspects of theatre, including more than forty devoted to theatre job searches, eighty-one to
playwrights, fifty to theatre management, ninety to acting and dancing,
and 200 to design and tech. In addition to specific categories, there are
forty recommended as "Best Sites" and seventy dedicated to books and gifts.
The thirteen chapters in Theatre Sources Dot Com are categorized
by subject. The first two chapters are an introduction to the World Wide
Web and search engines. The next nine chapters focus on playwrights,
directors, actors, designers, technicians and arts managers. The last
three chapters are dedicated to job searching, e-shopping and copyright
law for theatre. The production chapters are divided into sites for Associations/Organizations, Resources, and personal Web pages, with each
chapter focused on a specific interest. For example, in the Director's
chapter, a number of sites are dedicated to research, whereas in the
Actor's chapter, the center of attention is job search sites.
Although Louis Catron has written a number of texts on
playwrighting and directing, this book is his first attempt at technical
writing. Fortunately, he once again demonstrates his ability to clarify confusing concepts. His use of theatre-friendly metaphors-for example,
calling a search engine an e-stage manager-may be the proper tone for
those who are intimidated by other manuals. This book seems to be stylistically linked to the collection of "Dummies" books, but the information contained within is targeted to a very specific audience: the theatre
aficionado. (Note to computer geeks: do not be offended by his term
'puter wizard; this is a guidebook for everyone.)
Like a Rolodex, this book is not designed to be read from cover to
cover. Valuable Web sites are listed several times in separate chapters to
avoid having to guess in which category they belong. However, it is wise
to glance through the book to locate the assorted collection of helpful
sidebars. One such tip helps solve the "er"/"re" spelling dilemma when
searching for the word, theatre. (Catron recommends using both to insure maximum success.) The only real disappointment is the lack of either an index or appendix. It would be helpful to be able to cross
reference a site to locate Catron's recommendation.
In 1998, there were 275 million distinctly different Web pages. The
"net," as Catron uses the term, grows at 20 million pages per month.
Therefore, consider this book as the base for your explorations. It is well
organized, concise and offers an expansive range of Web sites. The assertion in the title-A Complete Guide to Online Theatre and Dance Resources-may be a trifle overstated, but Theatre Sources Dot Com, in
combination with Catron's promise of constantly updating the information and putting it on a Web site, is a solution to one of the problems of
the ever-expanding World Wide Web.

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Reviewed by David Kilpatrick, University Of Missouri - Columbia

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2003